The Truth
by Chikitani
Summary: Sometimes, the truth is better off not being known. Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to know. AU.


Title: The Truth

Summary: Sometimes, the truth is better off not being known. Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to know. AU.

[AN: Started out as a bit of a plot twist between friends: "What if Kushina was the one to kill off everyone in Uzushiogakure?" Was a bit of a laugh and riginally had Kushina as a bit of a psychopath, but evolved into this after I sat down and tried to rewrite it. Much AU, no pairings. Probably only one more chapter; to expand into Konoha and how the future of the Naruto world changes]

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Chapter 1: Why?

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This is Uzushiogakure.

The Village Hidden In the Whirlpools.

This is Uzushiogakure; its hills standing tall and proud and its buildings dominating the skyline. Few cities have such majestic buildings and after many years of practice, the people of Uzushiogakure have achieved a certain level of mastery in construction.

This is Uzushiogakure during the Second Great Shinobi War, where the people are tired and exhausted of the fighting. The war looms above their heads, and after all of the blood, pain, and death they want nothing but for it to stop.

But this is Uzushiogakure and it would go against its very nature to stop and give up. Even if they are tired, they stand tall and look on, knowing that they are united in their cause. Even if they are weary of it all, they fight on because there's no such thing as backing out. Even if the war grinds them down to nothing but dust and memories, they will stand to their last because it is what honor tells them they must do.

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This is the Uzumaki clan.

This is the Uzumaki clan at the height of their power, its numbers the highest in recent history and their abilities refined by war. Fuinjutsu is their mainstay, and with it they hold the lines of battle far better than any other clan at war, and for it Konoha is grateful to have them on their side. Their strong chakra makes them powerhouses and beacons of hope to their allies.

This is the Uzumaki clan at their strongest; the other countries have much reason to fear them for any Uzumaki on the battlefield means that their offensive options have decreased and they have little choice but to slowly wear down their stalwart opponents.

This is the Uzumaki clan at their proudest. Where they know that their power makes them respected, and despite the foul nature of war,

This is the Uzumaki clan that Uzumaki Kushina is born into.

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Imagine bright lights interspersed with darkness, where shapes didn't make sense and lines were only nauseating. Imagine where each and every sound you heard was both appealing and grating to the ears. Where taste meant nothing, and touching meant that something foreign was pressed against your skin. It felt wrong. It felt unnatural.

Is it any wonder that babies cried?

But Uzumaki Kushina is not a child. Though it confuses her parents, after a few months she rarely cries or frets, and they can't help but be worried. Her eyes are too intelligent and her demeanor too calm, but she is their child. So they coo and hope that their child will be ok.

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_Why was she here?_

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This is Uzushiogakure.

Uzushiogakure is a shinobi village.

Uzushiogakure is a shinobi village at war.

And at war, everyone is on the look for new prodigies to keep them standing on top of the war.

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Kushina is a quiet child. She does not talk unless she is spoken to. She does not move with the clumsiness of children, but with the deliberation and sureness of adults. She is always looking at other people with clear eyes, observing them and their actions.

And shinobi are hardly able to not notice when a child is observing them.

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But what they do not know is that she does not observe them out of curiosity, but out of pity.

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Kushina is placed early into instruction, but any worries that anyone may have had are alleviated when she learns faster than anyone could have possibly thought.

Still, she is quiet and deliberate, and talks only when she has no choice but to do so. But her words are clipped and her answers short. It is clear that she dislikes noise and bright things, and that quiet and darkness is preferable. Her clothes, unlike girls or boys her age, are muted and drab. But it is appropriate wear for a shinobi, so few ever talk to her about it.

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Kushina is a girl who knows the truth of the world.

Or at least, she thinks she does. The world is all lines and shapes, each with unappealing colors and shades. The world is all rules and exceptions and so long as she obeys the rules, there's nothing in it that will be of surprise to her.

This is simply reality.

Her boring, utterly unspectacular reality.

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Kushina is five when she learns of fuinjutsu and all of its complexities.

At first she is uninterested, but then sees it for the truth of what it is. It is not anything like the people of Uzushiogakure thought it was, and the age of five, Kushina understood more about the true nature of fuinjutsu than anyone alive ever could.

To shinobi, fuinjutsu was an arcane art that could anything that ninjutsu could. But ninjutsu was faster, whereas fuinjutsu more powerful but slower.

To Kushina, fuinjutsu could control the world and everything in it without the limitation of someone's chakra. It controlled everything in it without the limitation of someone's mind.

It is then that she came to realize that reality was nothing but a dream. A cruel dream that she could not escape. A boring dream that trapped her. A never-ending dream where death was not an escape.

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_What good is living a bright, cheerful life when it means nothing?_

_Why bother living, when you have already lived once before?_

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Kushina is six when she learns all that her teachers have to teach, and that which they refused to teach to a child so young. And while fuinjutsu had rules upon rules and exceptions to every exception, she understood enough.

The people of Uzushiogakure are incredulous that someone so young could understand so much, but at the same time they are so proud because it is one of them.

And because it is one of them, they are sure that one day Kushina will make their name, their clan, their village, even more known throughout the shinobi world.

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_Is it possible?_

_Is this madness?_

_What if there was simply… No reason to live…_

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But she wants nothing to do with their shinobi world.

She doesn't remember everything, but she remembers enough to know that this is not her first life, nor will it be her last.

She remembers enough to know that death is not an escape, but only the cruel, painful beginning to a new journey. A journey that she had long since grown weary of.

She remembers enough to know that this is her one chance to escape this so-called-reality.

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_If only…_

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Kushina is nine when she finishes her work.

It is nothing but a theory, a poorly though out theory, but it was better than anything else that she could have come up with given the amount of time.

In those three years, her chakra ballooned, and as any true shinobi, she learned how to control it.

She learned how to make the earth heave as if it is alive, to spit water that could cut through rocks as if it were rice paper. She learns how to make her chakra form seals, to trap her thoughts and intents into her life force and change reality.

But none of this was as important as her work.

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_Finally..._

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Kushina activates it, and everything goes so wrongwrongwrong.

Reality splits and shrieks and shudders, but no one notices but her.

No one notices that her eyes can no longer see what they see.

But it is only for the shortest of instants.

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_If only I could…_

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It hadn't worked, but it had worked.

Kushina had attempted to escape the reality that she was in, but she failed, yet had succeeded.

She learned the true truth of the world, for the dream that it was. The dream of a goddess that no longer wanted to wake, the dream of a goddess whose despair had grown so much that the people in her dream were cursed.

The dream of a goddess who was tainted both by her own self and the people in the dream, who raped, murdered, and pillaged with no second thoughts, and for people who looked upon their neighbors with suspicion and were quick to throw baseless accusations. The dream of a goddess who could do nothing but watch and hope, even as she cursed everything in it.

Kushina saw it all.

And cried when she returned into the dream that was her reality.

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Her parents come rushing in when Kushina's chakra writhes in despair, but there is nothing they can say or do that can possible console her.

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_Why must we stay in this dream?_

_Why must I continue to live in this never ending nightmare?_

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It's the last day that Uzushiogakure sees.

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Kushina is standing in the center of Uzushiogakure staring at the sky-that-is-not-a-sky and despairs.

She screams, tears running hot down her face, and stomps once.

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_Why?_

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Uzushiogakure splits in two, and every person in the village is awake and alert instantaneously.

Kushina and everyone in the village can hear her despair.

Someone reaches out to her in concern, not knowing why she is crying, but nonetheless trying to comfort her while simultaneously looking out for who could have sundered their village in half.

He is the first to die as chakra erupts from every tenketsu in her body.

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_Why me?_

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No one with her level of chakra could hope to do such a thing.

But chakra meant nothing. Age meant nothing.

Not in this world.

Her chakra-notchakra erupted into a never-ending sea of spikes that went through everything, and everyone. The once fabled seal that surrounded the village and kept out intruders no longer held to its original purpose and instead kept inside the villagers.

It no longer protected. It was now the bars to a prison.

Some attacked. Some fled. It didn't matter. Her chakra-notchakra, guided by her will slew everyone. Infants. Cousins. Brothers. Sisters. Parents. Grandparents.

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It didn't matter if they died.

They were just products of a dream.

They weren't real.

Nothing was real.

Not in this world.

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End file.
